Violent roars emanated from the blood pond. The Star Colossus' body twisted and turned in the boiling blood pond. Layer upon layer of blood waves splashed-out from the pond.

"Dammit! Boy, I won't forgive you for this!" the Star Colossus roared.

Ye Xiwen stood outside the blood pond. He stared at that Star Colossus with his ice-cold eyes. His refusal to accept defeat wasn't very surprising. It would've been impossible for Ye Xiwen to capture the Star Colossus without the mysterious space's intervention. Moreover, he couldn't kill it even though he had caught it. He could only use this method to scrape-off its power; bit by bit.

Ye Xiwen recalled how he had been forced by this bastard to refine the devil seed inside his body. Suddenly, anger flourished in his heart.

"Try to say it again once you come out. I'll turn you into the most loyal blood slave!" Ye Xiwen clenched his teeth as coldly looked at the Star Colossus.

"How long will it take to refine it?" Ye Xiwen turned around and asked Ye Mo.

"It's only a wisp of the real Star Colossus's soul, but its strength is at the pinnacle of the sage realm. It's one step away from the Great Sage realm. It can be possible to refine it only if you're in the sage realm!" Ye Mo said.

Ye Xiwen slightly frowned. Even five years wouldn't be enough for him to enter the semi-sage realm at to his current speed of progress.

"There is a way. You can use this Star Colossus's energy to refine it into your blood slave. That's a possible way because this wisp of its soul is connected to its real soul. So, you can draw energy from its real body. It is quite simple. But, you'll need great amount of 'Spirit Dans' for that. In fact, more than 50 million 'Spirit Dans' are required to refine a mere semi-sage level blood slave!" Ye Mo spoke after doing a bit of calculation.

Ye Mo obviously knew that Ye Xiwen wasn't looking to refine a blood slave of semi-sage realm since there wouldn't be much difference in its strength with respect to Ye Xiwen's. Moreover, he didn't wish to produce many blood slaves either. In fact, blood slaves of legendary level were out of question since he himself could kill many experts of that level.

However, a blood slave above semi-sage level was valuable to him. But, even a semi-sage level blood slave was enough to bankrupt him. He only had about 30 million 'Spirit Dans' in his stock along with some rare treasures. And items weren't the kind one would wish to sell. So, Ye Xiwen naturally didn't wish to sell them.

He had plundered many 'Spirit Dans' from the body of Fan Ming and other disciples of the Xuan Yuan Palace Hall. Otherwise, it would've been impossible for him to save up so many 'Spirit Dans'; especially when considering his quick consumption-rate.

"You can do this. You'll need to consume a lot of 'Spirit Dans', but it is advantageous to have it. You can continue to strengthen it. You can advance it to sage realm as long as you have enough 'Spirit Dans'; even further until you've sucked this Star Colossus dry!" Ye Mo grinned and said. Its lips turned dark red. He had once followed the Devil King for countless years. What kind of cruel and bloody methods had it not seen? Human beings could be considered at the 'top' when it came to displaying sinister and cunning attitude. However, when it comes to cruelty and brutality… the Devil race was ahead of any other race, "You could let him wail himself to death!"

Ye Xiwen was only focusing on the end result. A blood slave of semi-sage realm would be of great help to him. However, it was important for him to find a way to earn 'Spirit Dans'. Presently, he needed to fill the gap of 20 million 'Spirit Dans'.

Semi-sage realm meant that one had taken a half-step into the sage realm; however, it had the word 'sage' attached to it.

Ye Xiwen could quickly enter the sage realm if he had a Star Colossus of semi-sage realm by his side. He could go to many places and have lots of adventures if he had one by his side. He wouldn't have to remain confined to a limited number of 'safer' places.

Ye Xiwen emerged from the space inside the Heavenly Source Mirror. The 'Hidden Star Peak' was deserted at this time. The Master and Big Brother weren't present. The Second Sister was undergoing a closed-door training. The Third Brother had gone to look for the Big Brother and the Master.

The Fourth Brother Yang Wen Jun and the Fifth Sister Deng Shui Xin weren't present at the peak either. The 'Hidden Star Peak' didn't have many people to begin with. Therefore, it felt as if everyone had fled while taking a walk on this peak.

Not far from there — the wolf cub was scurrying behind a spirit beast on another peak. The wolf cub's strength was far higher than that spirit beast's. The wolf cub was doing this 'just' to enjoy the adventure of the chase; nothing more. He was a good for nothing freeloader.

Ye Xiwen looked at the incomparably spacious and isolated 'Hidden Star Peak'. He couldn't help but sigh. The road to the revival of the 'Hidden Star Peak' was long and seemingly endless; it was very far away from its revival.

Suddenly, a streamer of light flashed in the distance. The shadow of a person fell onto the peak. He was a disciple of the Complete Truth level. He could be regarded as a genius in the outside world. However, he was merely a trivial disciple here.

"Greetings, Brother Ye!" that disciple promptly cupped his hands in greeting as he saw Ye Xiwen. He was older than Ye Xiwen, but strength was everything in this world. Supreme strength could gain respect from everyone; irrespective of their age.

"What happened?" Ye Xiwen asked as he noticed the look of anxiety on the youth's face.

Very few people used to visit the 'Hidden Star Peak'. Its own disciples were handful in number. It had declined long ago; so not many people arrived here nowadays. In fact, it was normal to not see anyone on this peak for an entire day.

The True Martial University's campus was nearly as big as a large country's. Several disciples even held jobs inside the university. There were merchants, farmers, etc. Obviously, the nature of their jobs was entirely different. These farmer-disciples were different from ordinary farmers. They used to plant various kinds of spiritual fruits. The merchant disciples traded divine materials and the most precious rare treasures. And the nature of their trade was also different.

The True Martial University was surrounded by a large city; in fact, the city was an agglomerate of many smaller ones. These cities belonged to various inheritances. Basically, every 'Top 100 Inheritance' had a huge city of its own. And every city was privately owned by an inheritance.

One mustn't underestimate them by taking them for ordinary cities. They were the most flourishing cities. The experts of truth realm or above used to trade items between themselves in these cities. This wasn't an ordinary thing. A humongous amount of tax was collected by these cities every year. In fact, each city was capable of collecting more tax than a small country since.

Initially, the subordinate cities of the 'Top 100 Inheritances' were only open for their own disciples. Each of these inheritances had nearly hundreds-of-thousands of people. Some even had up to a million disciples. They obviously didn't have space to rent to outsiders.

However, the 'Hidden Star Peak' was different. It had a handful of disciples. No one had any dominance on this peak; apart from its six disciples. Moreover, none of them was good at managing things. Therefore, Hidden Star Peak had only one way to survive, and that was to rent the city's places to outsiders. Various kinds of booths and houses had been rented out.

This wasn't an issue for other inheritances. They had several hundred-thousand disciples; with some having over a million. Hence, there would always be some people who were good at managing things or running businesses. Even if one were to count the everyday-revenue for such an inheritance — the number would reach astronomical figures.

However, the Hidden Star Peak's 'Hidden Star City' didn't have an excellent internal management system. In fact, their taxation rate was about 1% of other cities' taxation rate. However, the annual collection was still over than 2 billion 'Spirit Dans'. So, one could imagine how terrifying its annual trade must've been.[1]

This was because… the 'Hidden Star City' had a low tax rate. Therefore, many small inheritances that didn't have an independent city had immersed themselves inside the 'Hidden Star City', and flourished due to lesser trade taxation. This boosted the city's collections, and made it livelier than other cities. Other cities might have some vacancies, but 'Hidden Star City' was always overcrowded. In fact, it could be considered an extremely expensive land.

These cities inside the True Martial University were built to accommodate millions of disciples in its peak time. The current population residing in these cities was nothing in comparison. It had been many years since the university's decline, and it was rare to see these cities fully-occupied.

However, this 'Hidden Star City' was an exception since the overall taxation rate was only 1% of other cities'. Therefore, the tax rate could be said to be extremely low. This was impossible to happen in other cities. Hence, many disciples had migrated to the 'Hidden Star Peak', and this had given rise to an overcrowded situation. After all said and done, the city's overall revenue was ahead of several others despite the low tax rate.

Other inheritances had millions of disciples. However, this peak only had a handful of disciples who'd inherit the 'Hidden Star Peak' someday. It could be said that they'd die with happiness when the time came.

(To be continued)

Notes:

Understanding the concept behind the city's success would require some knowledge on the institution that was followed in ancient societies. Taxes were often fixed despite the volume of business one carried out. Meaning… a guy making a million would have to pay the same tax as guy making just ten. The chapter would make more sense on an economical level if one were to read it with this concept in mind. [This isn't mentioned in the text though; just a bit of economic history.]